Thoracic surgery experiences/questions

Greetings to everyone on this forum. I have a question, and I would appreciate some insight if anyone can assist. Here is the situation: following a bout of pneumonia, my mother was referred to a thoracic surgeon at Mayo Clinic. A CT scan revealed an 85x55mm lesion, with one lung lobe partially filled with fluid and partially with air. I am struggling to understand what the surgeon’s objective is in this specific scenario. Thank you for any input.

It’s hard to give you a straight answer without knowing more, but I’ll give it my best shot...

First off, you really ought to check in with a doctor over in Springfield to see what the move is—seriously, don't sit on this! The word "lesion" is such a vague term, too. It could be anything from a simple abscess or some localized lung emphysema to a cavity left over from TB, and yeah, we can't totally rule out something more serious like a tumor either...

Also, saying this happened "after pneumonia" doesn't tell us much. What kind of pneumonia was it? How long did you have it? And has anyone actually brought up any history of TB?....

As for what a surgeon might do, they’ll likely either drain the thing via aspiration, stick a chest tube in there with underwater suction, or just go ahead and surgically remove the lesion altogether.

Thanks for the response. My mother spent 20 days in the hospital dealing with pneumonia, followed by two weeks at home before she had to return to have fluid drained from her lungs. They found bacteria in that fluid, so they kept her on antibiotics for about seven days as a precaution. Could you clarify what "subpleural drainage" actually entails? Also, is it worth intervening on an 85×55 mm lesion?

My mother went to Springfield for some tests and sat down with a specialist. After reviewing her scans, the doctor claims there's nothing alarming and that the fluid in her lungs should eventually clear up on its own. One thing is bothering me, though. The primary physician who referred her was visibly panicking, yet the specialist remained completely stoic. Who do you trust here? Is it possible the GP is just out of her depth and that’s why she sent her to a professor?

Hey, if anyone could break this down for me in plain English, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!
So, here’s what the report says:

CT scans of the chest and upper abdomen (pre- and post-contrast), using oral gastrografin:
There's a solid mass visible on the right side of the mediastinum. It starts up near the
aortic arch and stretches down along the ascending aorta and the right side of the heart, almost reaching the level of the sternum.
It measures about 10x7x8.6 cm.
After the contrast dye was used, this mass shows up uniformly, but there's a thin, dark rim
separating it from the heart and the major blood vessels in the mediastinum.
The mediastinal pleura is bulging out to the right of this mass, making it hard to tell them apart clearly.
No other masses or swollen lymph nodes were found in the rest of the mediastinum.
The trachea and main bronchi look totally normal.
In the right lung tissue—likely the VI segment—there's a small spot (infiltrate) about 12mm wide.
The rest of the lung tissue looks clear.
On the right side of the liver, there are three low-density spots that look like fluid. They have sharp edges and the largest one is about
25 mm, which looks like typical simple cysts.
The rest of the upper abdominal organs and the upper retroperitoneum look fine on the CT.

Conclusion:
A solid mass in the mediastinum. This could be a cluster of lymph nodes, but other causes are possible too.
A CT-guided needle biopsy is an option to check it.
Simple liver cysts.